preview

Philosophies Of Presidents Hoover And Roosevelt During The Great Depression

Decent Essays

President Hoover was in office from 1929 to 1933 followed by President Roosevelt, who served from 1933 to 1945. Both presidents served in office during the Great Depression. Moreover, the Great Depression was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. American was in turmoil and Americans turned to the government for support and guidance. Here, the President voiced his philosophy; stating whether or not the Federal Government should facilitate by providing economic relief to the country. Although, the two presidents served in different terms they were faced with the same dilemma and governed under similar conditions. Despite the fact that President Hoover and President Roosevelt had varying philosophies their approaches share many …show more content…

First, Roosevelt was willing to do much more than Hoover to combat the Depression. He was willing to have the government get much more involved in the economy. President Roosevelt compares his philosophy of government action to the Found Fathers and their willingness to confront problems by stating his belief that the “Federal Government was created in order to promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty of the American People” (Hanes and Hanes 59). Whereas, Hoover believed in a more optimistic approach and thought that citizens should give more charity to others in order to help the majority. He also thought that the government has already facilitated with other issues, He enforced his beliefs by stating; “the government has already been helpful with the drought- its main priority- and the unemployment” (PAGE). To conclude, Hoover’s approach to the problems of the Great Depression was not nearly as aggressive as

Get Access